The legal troubles surrounding Rajpal Yadav have taken a serious turn, with the Delhi High Court directing the actor to surrender before jail authorities. The order follows repeated failures to honour
settlement commitments in a long-running cheque-bounce case. According to an update reported by ANI, and as quoted in HT, the High Court has asked Rajpal Naurang Yadav to surrender before the concerned Jail Superintendent by February 4. In the same order, the court withdrew the leniency that had earlier been extended to him in multiple cheque dishonour cases.
The court made it clear that there was no reason to continue protecting the actor from the sentence awarded by the trial court. It noted that Rajpal Yadav had repeatedly violated undertakings related to the payment of settlement amounts, despite being given several opportunities to resolve the matter.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that the court had shown “considerable indulgence” to the petitioner over a long period. This relief, the court said, was granted solely on the basis of assurances that the dispute would be settled amicably and that payments would be made to the complainant company. Those assurances, however, were not followed through.
The order also pointed out that the sentence imposed by the trial court had been suspended as far back as June 2024 to allow time for settlement. Despite this relief, the commitments recorded in successive court orders were not honoured.
The High Court noted that clear payment timelines were fixed on multiple occasions, but the actor failed to deposit amounts running into several crores of rupees. Even partial payments promised through demand drafts and instalment plans were not made within the stipulated time.
The court was particularly critical of the explanations offered for the delays. Reasons such as technical or typographical errors in demand drafts were rejected, with the court stating that these explanations did not inspire confidence, especially given the repeated pattern of default. It was observed that no application was filed seeking clarification or correction of the alleged errors. Instead, the court was repeatedly informed that the petitioner was ready to pay, only for fresh adjournments to be sought without any actual compliance.
As of now, neither Rajpal Yadav nor his legal team has issued a public statement on the latest order.
